Hi there,

The legal services provider I volunteer for frequently has filings where there is a brief (target document) and a separate document that is an annotated table of contents (source document). The source document is formatted to include new paragraphs as new exhibits (Exhibit A, B, C, etc.).

I would like to set up an easy-to-use system that replaces references with static names (e.g., govreport; declA) in the target document with exhibit numbers in the source document. I have been able to do this with Cross References, INCLUDETEXT, and setting bookmarks as instructed by this post: https://www.msofficeforums.com/word/...documents.html. First, I want to see if there is a solution to a frequent problem I am encountering. Second, I'd like to know how I might automate this process through macros or other tools so others could use it more easily.

First--updating the paragraph number field works when a cross reference moves up, but not when it moves down. Here's what I mean:

This is the inside of my field:

{INCLUDETEXT "C:\\Users\\filepath\\REDACTED - source document.docx" DeclA}

In the source document, let's say I hit enter next to Exhibit A to start the next item in the list. The Paragraph containing DeclA is now Exhibit B. Even if I update the fields on both documents, DeclA still appears as Exhibit A, not Exhibit B. It works, however, if "GovReport" is Exhibit E, and I delete the paragraph that was Exhibit D. Upon updates, the GovReport field becomes Exhibit D, and it appears as such in both the source and target document. Is this an insurmountable issue or is there some kind of fix to make this work?

Assuming the first problem is soluble, I'm wondering how to make this process easy for document drafters, without having to paste and set bookmarks and cross-references manually for every new paragraph. Is it possible to have some kind of key for each paragraph in the source document, maybe "<<>>" that would take whatever text is inside then assign the cross-reference paragraph number and name a bookmark through SET with the text inside the "<< >>"? Would I need to use a macro for this? How complicated would that macro be, and where could I find someone to write it?

Please let me know if any of this is not clear. Happy to post sample documents.

Best wishes,
An intern